Exercise has long been linked with stronger brains and reduced risk of dementia and other cognitive diseases. But new research suggests that older adults can significantly improve brain health with only a few minutes of daily movement.<\/p>\n
Researchers from the University of South Australia<\/a> and the U.S.-based AdventHealth Research Institute<\/a> found that as few as five minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a day correlated to significantly better cognitive performance. The study, published<\/a> in the British journal Age & Ageing<\/a> in early April, examined data from hundreds of people 65 to 80 years old.<\/p>\n Researchers found that \u201chuff-and-puff\u201d movements, like running or lap swimming, were associated with better brain functions including information processing, focusing and multitasking and short-term memory. They also found that even a few minutes of moderate exercise like walking improves brain functions.<\/p>\n \u201cOur key finding was that moving from doing zero minutes or very little moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to doing just five minutes a day \u2014 that\u2019s where the biggest gain in cognitive function was seen,\u201d said the study\u2019s lead author, Maddison Mellow, a research associate at the University of South Australia.<\/p>\n The researchers distinguished between moderate and vigorous exercise by applying a simple test: whether subjects could still manage to speak full sentences after moving around. Vigorous exercise makes that impossible, said Audrey Collins, a postdoctoral research scientist at AdventHealth Research Institute and the paper\u2019s co-lead author.<\/p>\n The study observed 585 people, all in good health. Their physical activity was measured using accelerometers they wore on their wrists; the researchers tested cognitive functions using online and paper-based tests.<\/p>\n Worth noting: This study also found a \u201cstrong relationship\u201d between spending little to no time doing moderate to vigorous activity and poorer cognitive performance, Mellow said. One slightly surprising finding, she added, was that the cognitive performance gains from exercise don\u2019t extend to longer-term memory and visual-spatial functions like judging distances or sizes.<\/p>\n The study was novel in that it categorized how people divided their days into three behaviors: sleep, sedentary and active. And though getting enough quality sleep is important to brain health in midlife<\/a> and beyond, the researchers said that when forced to choose between minutes spent sleeping and minutes spent exercising, reducing sleep time to spend more time moving resulted in better brain function.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t really matter, in this sample, where time was coming from, whether from sleep, sedentary behavior or light intensity physical activity,\u201d Mellow said. \u201cSo long as time was being increased in moderate vigorous activity, that\u2019s where the benefits were being shown for cognitive outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n With that in mind, what are some moderate or vigorous bursts of exercise for older adults to do every day? We consulted experts to give you five accessible options.<\/p>\n 1. Walking<\/p>\n Two experts I spoke with each said the easiest way to clock those five daily minutes for brain health is by walking.<\/p>\n